1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a self-discharge circuit for a secondary battery, and a secondary battery including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With rapid development of the electronic, communication and computer industries, there is an increase in the use of portable electronic apparatuses. Most of such portable electronic apparatuses employ secondary (rechargeable) batteries as power sources.
Technologies for preventing the charging of secondary batteries at a high temperature are currently available to ensure the safety and reliability of the secondary batteries. However, it is impossible to completely prevent a swelling phenomenon of secondary batteries using such currently available technologies. That is, when secondary batteries are charged and exposed to a high temperature environment, the swelling of the secondary batteries still occurs. In particular, an electronic apparatus built in a vehicle, e.g., a navigation system is generally left in the vehicle connected to a cigar jack, and the temperature of a dashboard of a vehicle can easily reach 80° C. in the summer. In this case, even when the charging of secondary batteries in the navigation system is prevented, there is a high chance of swelling of the secondary batteries since the secondary batteries are in an almost fully charged state.